Taiwan high court rejects second challenge to presidential election

[JURIST] Taiwan's High Court Thursday rejected a second lawsuit filed by the opposition Nationalist Party to nullify the March 20 presidential poll and upheld President Chen Shui-bian's narrow re-election victory. The first lawsuit was dismissed in November after an extensive investigation and a ballot recount, which affirmed the .2 percent margin in favor of Chen. The Nationalist Party claimed several election irregularities, such as misplaced ballots and the timing of a referendum vote at the same time as the presidential poll. It also claimed that the Central Election Commission should have halted voting after Chen and Vice President Annette Lu were injured in an election-eve shooting, which they claim was staged to win "sympathy votes." Reuters has more. JURIST provides background reports here.

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